In this companion to a forthcoming PBS series, Wood journeys to some of the remotest places on earth in search of four of mankind's most powerful myths: Shangri-La, Jason and the Golden Fleece, the Queen of Sheba, and King Arthur.

Few classical stories are as exciting as that of Jason and the Golden Fleece. The legend of the boy, who discovers a new identity as son of a usurped king and leads a crew of demi-gods and famous heroes, has resonated through the ages, rumbling like the clashing rocks, which almost pulverised the Argo. The myth and its reception inspires endless engagements: while it tells of a quest to the ends of the earth, of the tyrants Pelias and Aetes, of dragons' teeth, of the loss of Hylas (beloved of Hercules) stolen away by nymphs, and of Jason's seduction of the powerful witch Medea (later betrayed for a more useful princess), it speaks to us of more: of gender and sexuality; of heroism and lost integrity; of powerful gods and terrifying monsters; of identity and otherness; of exploration and exploitation. The Argonauts are emblems of collective heroism, yet also of the emptiness of glory. From Pindar to J. W. Waterhouse, Apollonius of Rhodes to Ray Harryhausen, and Robert Graves to Mary Zimmerman, the Argonaut myth has produced later interpretations as rich, salty and complex as the ancient versions. Helen Lovatt here unravels, like untangled sea-kelp, the diverse strands of the narrative and its numerous and fascinating afterlives. Her book will prove both informative and endlessly entertaining to those who love classical literature and myth.

God in the Garden - "a collection of poetry written beyond the surface," takes the word "God" and utilizes it as a term to help illustrate mankind's search for purpose and understanding. "God," in this book, is used in reference to people's personal perspectives and pleasures. Hewett passionately uses Greek Mythology and biblical language to draw the connection between mankind's yearning for leadership and direction. Through romantic lyricism, "God in the Garden," captures the wistful wishes of the people. From the politician, to the priest, the pansexual, and even the prostitute, the letters in this book are made to express the yearnings of the depressed. Those longing to be heard. This book, is NOT ABOUT GOD, but is a book about people. It is a book about society as a whole. A book about life and the reality we all face; that each of us are all puppets, yet only a small few can actually see the strings.

The book presents the fundamental stories and legends of Greek (and Latin) mythology.The intent is to preserve this rich and varied heritage, which is the basis of Western culture and permeates every form of art, even contemporary.It is divided into the following four parts: The Origins - The Gods of Olympus - Other Gods and Legends - Weird and Wonderful Creatures.Fact sheets follow the narratives, which can also serve for educational use. Each tab is divided into two parts: Analysis and Understanding of the text - Reworking and Writing.

Buried in the scriptures of Ibea lies a story of rivalry, betrayal, stolen love, and the bitter division of the gods into two factions. This rift forced the lesser deities to pledge their divine loyalty either to the shining Eternal Kingdom or the darkness of the Underworld. When a demon sneaks into the mortal world and murders an innocent girl to get to her sister Chaeli, all pretence of peace between the gods is shattered. For Chaeli is no ordinary mortal, she is a demi-goddess, in hiding for centuries, even from herself. But there are two divine brothers who may have fathered her, and the fate of Ibea rests on the source of her blood. Chaeli embarks on a journey that tests her heart, her courage, and her humanity. Her only guides are a man who died a thousand years ago in the Dragon Wars, a former assassin for the Underworld, and a changeling who prefers the form of a cat. The lives of many others - the hideously scarred Anya and her gaoler; the enigmatic and cruel Captain Kerne; the dissolute Prince Dal; and gentle seer Hana - all become entwined. The gods will once more walk the mortal plane spreading love, luck, disease, and despair as they prepare for the final, inevitable battle. In Search of Gods and Heroes, Book One of Children of Nalowyn, is a true epic of sweeping proportions which becomes progressively darker as the baser side of human nature is explored, the failings and ambitions of the gods is revealed, and lines between sensuality and sadism, love and lust are blurred.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was one of the most revered religious leaders of the 20th century, and God in Search of Man and its companion volume, Man Is Not Alone, two of his most important books, are classics of modern Jewish theology. God in Search of Man combines scholarship with lucidity, reverence, and compassion as Dr. Heschel discusses not man's search for God but God's for man--the notion of a Chosen People, an idea which, he writes, "signifies not a quality inherent in the people but a relationship between the people and God." It is an extraordinary description of the nature of Biblical thought, and how that thought becomes faith.

This book is an exploration of the spiritual traditions of ancient Europe, focusing on the numinous presence of the divine feminine in Russia, Central Europe, France, Britain, Ireland and the northern regions. Drawing upon research in archaeology, history, sociology, anthropology and the study of religions to connect the reader with the myths and symbols of the European traditions, the book shows how the power of European goddesses and holy women evolved through the ages, adapting to climate change and social upheaval, but continually reflecting the importance of living in an harmonious relationship with the environment and the spirit world. From the cave painting of southern France to ancient Irish tombs, from shamanic rituals to Arthurian legends, the divine feminine plays an essential role in understanding where we have come from and where we are going. Comparative examples from other native cultures, and quotes from spiritual leaders around the world, set European religions in context with other indigenous cultures.

The Circle of Shadows is rising again. In Tarsium, a country known for its secrets, the Circle begins their search for the Heroes of the Gods; the chosen few who are granted the power of the Gods. With the fate of Pandeia in the balance, these few Heroes will make all the difference in the war to come:Kerberos, the new king of Omatus, caught between serving his God and his city;Zeera, a Tarsi Peacekeeper who becomes more than just an agent in the war of the Gods; Mathys, the guardian and protector of Ermoor's Hero, struggling to accept his destiny;and Mara, an unwilling Hero and mother, far more powerful than she knows.As the Heroes are gathered and the Circle closes, Pandeia teeters on the edge of destruction, its Heroes unsure and terrified. Gods and Heroes: Circle of Shadows is book 3 of the Gods and Heroes series by Canberra author Brendan Wright.

The islands of Britain have been a crossroads of gods, heroes, and kings-those of flesh as well as those of myth-for thousands of years. Successive waves of invasion brought distinctive legends, rites, and beliefs. The ancient Celts displaced earlier indigenous peoples, only to find themselves displaced in turn by the Romans, who then abandoned the islands to Germanic tribes, a people themselves nearly overcome in time by an influx of Scandinavians. With each wave of invaders came a battle for the mythic mind of the Isles as the newcomer's belief system met with the existing systems of gods, legends, and myths. In Gods, Heroes, and Kings, medievalist Christopher Fee and veteran myth scholar David Leeming unearth the layers of the British Isles' unique folkloric tradition to discover how this body of seemingly disparate tales developed. The authors find a virtual battlefield of myths in which pagan and Judeo-Christian beliefs fought for dominance, and classical, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Celtic narrative threads became tangled together. The resulting body of legends became a strange but coherent hybrid, so that by the time Chaucer wrote "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in the fourteenth century, a Christian theme of redemption fought for prominence with a tripartite Celtic goddess and the Arthurian legends of Sir Gawain-itself a hybrid mythology. Without a guide, the corpus of British mythology can seem impenetrable. Taking advantage of the latest research, Fee and Leeming employ a unique comparative approach to map the origins and development of one of the richest folkloric traditions. Copiously illustrated with excerpts in translation from the original sources,Gods, Heroes, and Kings provides a fascinating and accessible new perspective on the history of British mythology.

Osiris, the god of the dead; the catlike goddess Bastet; and the imposing sphinx are well-known subjects of Egyptian mythology. Egyptian Gods, Heroes, and Mythology explores the gods, heroes, creatures, and stories of Egyptian mythology, in addition to examining their influence today. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Deliver end-to-end real-time distributed data processing solutions by leveraging the power of Elastic Stack 6.0 Key Features - Get to grips with the new features introduced in Elastic Stack 6.0 - Get valuable insights from your data by working with the different components of the Elastic stack such as Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, X-Pack, and Beats - Includes handy tips and techniques to build, deploy and manage your Elastic applications efficiently on-premise or on the cloud Book Description The Elastic Stack is a powerful combination of tools for distributed search, analytics, logging, and visualization of data from medium to massive data sets. The newly released Elastic Stack 6.0 brings new features and capabilities that empower users to find unique, actionable insights through these techniques. This book will give you a fundamental understanding of what the stack is all about, and how to use it efficiently to build powerful real-time data processing applications. After a quick overview of the newly introduced features in Elastic Stack 6.0, you’ll learn how to set up the stack by installing the tools, and see their basic configurations. Then it shows you how to use Elasticsearch for distributed searching and analytics, along with Logstash for logging, and Kibana for data visualization. It also demonstrates the creation of custom plugins using Kibana and Beats. You’ll find out about Elastic X-Pack, a useful extension for effective security and monitoring. We also provide useful tips on how to use the Elastic Cloud and deploy the Elastic Stack in production environments. On completing this book, you’ll have a solid foundational knowledge of the basic Elastic Stack functionalities. You’ll also have a good understanding of the role of each component in the stack to solve different data processing problems. What you will learn - Familiarize yourself with the different components of the Elastic Stack - Get to know the new functionalities introduced in Elastic Stack 6.0 - Effectively build your data pipeline to get data from terabytes or petabytes of data into Elasticsearch and Logstash for searching and logging - Use Kibana to visualize data and tell data stories in real-time - Secure, monitor, and use the alerting and reporting capabilities of Elastic Stack - Take your Elastic application to an on-premise or cloud-based production environment Who this book is for This book is for data professionals who want to get amazing insights and business metrics from their data sources. If you want to get a fundamental understanding of the Elastic Stack for distributed, real-time processing of data, this book will help you. A fundamental knowledge of JSON would be useful, but is not mandatory. No previous experience with the Elastic Stack is required.

A beginner's guide to storing, managing, and analyzing data with the updated features of Elastic 7.0 Key Features Gain access to new features and updates introduced in Elastic Stack 7.0 Grasp the fundamentals of Elastic Stack including Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana Explore useful tips for using Elastic Cloud and deploying Elastic Stack in production environments Book Description The Elastic Stack is a powerful combination of tools for techniques such as distributed search, analytics, logging, and visualization of data. Elastic Stack 7.0 encompasses new features and capabilities that will enable you to find unique insights into analytics using these techniques. This book will give you a fundamental understanding of what the stack is all about, and help you use it efficiently to build powerful real-time data processing applications. The first few sections of the book will help you understand how to set up the stack by installing tools, and exploring their basic configurations. You’ll then get up to speed with using Elasticsearch for distributed searching and analytics, Logstash for logging, and Kibana for data visualization. As you work through the book, you will discover the technique of creating custom plugins using Kibana and Beats. This is followed by coverage of the Elastic X-Pack, a useful extension for effective security and monitoring. You’ll also find helpful tips on how to use Elastic Cloud and deploy Elastic Stack in production environments. By the end of this book, you’ll be well versed with the fundamental Elastic Stack functionalities and the role of each component in the stack to solve different data processing problems. What you will learn Install and configure an Elasticsearch architecture Solve the full-text search problem with Elasticsearch Discover powerful analytics capabilities through aggregations using Elasticsearch Build a data pipeline to transfer data from a variety of sources into Elasticsearch for analysis Create interactive dashboards for effective storytelling with your data using Kibana Learn how to secure, monitor and use Elastic Stack’s alerting and reporting capabilities Take applications to an on-premise or cloud-based production environment with Elastic Stack Who this book is for This book is for entry-level data professionals, software engineers, e-commerce developers, and full-stack developers who want to learn about Elastic Stack and how the real-time processing and search engine works for business analytics and enterprise search applications. Previous experience with Elastic Stack is not required, however knowledge of data warehousing and database concepts will be helpful.

Can one person really make a difference in a dark world? Can a nation be saved from certain judgement through the faithfullness of one person? The bible say’s yes. Not only that but the word also shows us what type of person can persuade God to withold his hand of judgement against a rebelious nation. It takes a hero. Not man’s idea of a hero, but what scriptures describe as a hero of faith. A hero deep within us all to bring us victory in these last days.